Does 5,000 square feet sound a bit large to show off a shoe? Nike used just that last year in New York to show of its new Air Max – by invitation only.

Nike hired LED Folio Corporation, one of New York’s hottest design firms, to design the lighting system. LED used a TiLux system to create a warm atmosphere for the oh-so-exclusive invitees who came to peruse the handful of shoes on display. TiLux is a long-lasting, energy-efficient lighting system that promises to improve both atmosphere and energy efficiency in our office spaces of the future. That’s the good part.

In LED’s press release, however, COO Donald Peifer, admits that energy efficiency is not his “top priority” for large companies like Nike, and that the use of TiLux was a design-only decision (not and e-friendly one). LED’s real focus was on “creating a sense of intimacy and drama.”

Perhaps I’m missing something, but I’m not sure I need intimacy when shopping for shoes. And the only drama that I’ve experienced with shoes happened when my low-cut blue Chuck Taylors blew a sidewall in an Indonesian rainstorm. Now that was dramatic…

Forgive me for being cynical, but this one is over-the-top. Nike has made some impact-lightening improvements in recent years, but building a 5,000 square foot media space to showcase its shoes to invitees only is too much. Okay, so the lighting is efficient — but not on purpose. What about heating and cooling the enormous space? And lest we forget, this is about shoes. Haven’t people been railing about this kind of gluttony as the rich get tax cuts and the poor get fewer social programs?